Articles in Feature
Australia day is here for 2009, and a good chance to review the way digital has brought about change to the way we live.
Here are some key events from 10 years ago in 1999
- Mark Taylor was the 1999 Australian of the year
- Companies spent millions protecting themselves from the Y2K bug
- Google moved from their garage to their first office with a search market share of < %1
- George Bush criticised President Clinton on Kosovo saying “We need an exit strategy before going to war”
Emarketer confirms that the Internet is more popular than Newspapers for news
I would expect that the internet will reach TV by this time next year.
Here’s a list of 10 Digital Marketing predictions for 2009.
1. Mobile apps
Goldman sachs estimates 210 million iphone apps will be dowloaded by 2010. Much of this will be monetized by the emerging mobile ad market, e.g. www.admob.com
2. Video streaming from mobile
e.g. www.qik.com www.kyte.com www.ustream.com
Soccer mums through to corporate presentations will be beamed from mobiles directly to the internet
Social scientists refer to the craving for online contact as “Ambient awareness”. They liken the feeling to being similar to being physically near someone and sensing their mood by their body language, mood and comments.
I think the desire for ambient awareness is what has driven the popularity of Facebook, which through it’s provision of the news feed feature, is supplying a stream of up to the minute updates on what your friends are doing. In many cases this feed substitutes the need for email. Twitter is another service which streams snippets of thoughts into a single stream.
Whilst the craving for ambient awareness of our social graph (or friends list) might be strong, it is surprising to me that the use of RSS feedreaders to supply a personalised interest based news feed is still quite low.
Gartner has released some new research which describes how various people engage in online communities.
Using the term “Generation V”, the research confirms that segments do not relate to age, gender, geographic location or social class, but instead are grouped by their interactions and behavioural usage preferences of digital media consumption.
The 4 levels of engagement in Gartner’s model are creators, contributors, opportunists, and lurkers.
A report by emarketer predicts that Australia will take top spot amongst industrialised nations growing from 63% in 2008 to over 76% by 2012.
Note: that’s top spot for %, not for speed !
Also reported are these figures from Nielsen which highlight preferred online activities.
The BRW has officially launched it’s top Australian web2.0 applications.
Here’s a selection of the ones I am familiar with :-
5. Engagd
Website: http://www.engagd.com/
Person/Company: Faraday Media (Chris Saad/ Ashley Angell)
Description: Web service application that creates ‘attention profiles’ of users, and enables these to be used in customising services and content for users.
6. MyVirtualHome
Website: http://mvh.com.au/
Person/Company: Greg Lane/ Paul Condon
A new social network has launched in Australia which hopes to address some of the key insights from online social media research.
Vibe Village is a social network which is hoping to connect brands to social influencers, by targeting 3 needs.
Being First.
I still remember running home to tell my brothers that I had found a way to get through the lane way at the back of my house, only to be disappointed when it became apparent that the news wasn’t news to them.
When I was young, radio shows such as American Top 40, or Billboard were the established authorities on determining the most popular artist or album.
The internet has revolutionised the distribution of music and it’s no surprise that there is no shortage of innovation in the delivery of informational services.
Recognising that popularity includes discussions, consumption as well as purchase, the BBC has created an index of bands and tracks.
There is certainly a growing trend for small companies to support the growing demand for personalised products. E.g. Brewtopia in Australia allows consumers to personalise their own beverage label.
Vuru.com takes personalization to the degree where it provides customised daily supplement pill packs sent out as several months supply. They have created several starter pack formats linked to lifestyles, but you can also completely personalize your own. Great for people who are taking several different supplements. The site also contains a Vitamin Concierge, which is free for consumers that take 15 or more pills per day.
